The teachers, along with the rest of the group, were cautiously making their way through the strange dinsion. They stuck to the path reportedly set by the Underfang Guild, a location said to be close to their original entry point.
Even if the path wasn’t exact, the general hope was that it would lead them away from more dangerous beasts. The group was now climbing up the sa large hill they had descended from earlier, hugging the side of the cliff where thick vines crawled up the stone, offering partial cover. Everyone did their best to stay out of sight, especially with the threat of new, unexpected monsters possibly lurking nearby.
As the group carefully trudged uphill, it gave Raze the perfect opportunity to speak with Bronto privately. They walked behind the others, just enough to not be overheard, though Raze had plans to ensure that anyway.
"Questions of your own?" Bronto chuckled, glancing sideways. "You don’t look half as an as your friend. If you’re gonna ask dumb things, you better bring him over too."
Raze’s expression didn’t shift. "You know, I have my own thods of making people talk," he said coolly. "And honestly, physical torture? That’s far too basic and easy. Let’s start with sothing a little more... refined."
He lifted his hand. Instantly, Bronto noticed the subtle shift in the air. A few leaves on the forest floor shifted, and the ambient noise dulled. Birds went quiet, wind vanished, and even the sound of footsteps faded into nothing.
A silence spell.
Only the two of them could hear what was being said now.
Bronto tried to lift his hands but found them heavy, useless. Hardened ice had ford over the back of his arms, freezing the joints stiff, making it near impossible to cast spells. Worse than that, his mana had been partially drained using the extraction technique Raze had quietly employed earlier.
Raze hadn’t taken everything, he was too experienced for that. If all of Bronto’s mana were gone, it would’ve started drawing from his life force. No, Raze had taken just enough to render him weak, but not dead. He needed him alive. For now.
Even if Bronto were at full strength, he wouldn’t have stood a chance. Not against soone like Raze.
With one hand, Raze placed it gently on Bronto’s shoulder.
"You know," he began, his voice steady, "fire magic’s impressive. But there are uses for it most people never even think about... like raising a person’s internal body temperature from the inside out."
As soon as he said it, Bronto began to feel it. Heat flushed through his core, his organs burning from the inside, pain spiking in waves. It felt like his insides were boiling, his system trying to shut itself down to survive.
It was torture, brutal, unique, and terrifying.
"I’ve got plenty of ways to get information out of you," Raze continued, lifting his hand slightly. "And trust , I know when soone’s lying."
Bronto stumbled, his steps heavy. That short burst of heat had nearly caused his knees to buckle.
"I’m not here to ask about why your guild is in this dinsion," Raze said firmly. "Or why you sent the students in. What I want to know is why you faked being the Dark Guild. What was so important that your group had to go to that extent?"
Bronto spat to the side, trying to regain composure. "Are you seriously asking that?" he replied, his voice still strained. "Because if we dressed like the Dark Guild, then we could get away with it. If the students made it out and said the Dark Guild attacked them, no one would’ve suspected the Underfang."
Electricity sparked at Raze’s fingertips, and the mont his hand touched Bronto again, a pulse of lightning surged through his body. Bronto’s mouth opened in a scream, but not a sound left his lips, silenced by the spell that still blanketed them.
"I thought we agreed, no gas," Raze said coldly. "It was obvious you were planning to let so of the students go. That was deliberate."
He stepped closer, expression hardening.
"You wanted them to believe the Dark Guild was behind the attack. Maybe your goal was for the Underfang to swoop in as heroes? Earn a reputation boost? Gain favor? Or maybe you just wanted to start sothing with the Dark Guild. Either way, I want the truth. And I also want to know, why give the academy a cursed item? Don’t tell that was just a coincidence."
Bronto hesitated. Raze could hear it, the slight hitch in his breath, the deeper thump of his heart.
"It sounds like... you already know the answers," Bronto muttered. "Are you just trying to get to confirm it?"
Sparks crackled again at Raze’s fingertips, and Bronto panicked, hands flinching against the frozen bindings.
"Alright! Alright! They were orders, all of it. Everything we do, every move we make, it’s dictated by the Cerberus Guild," Bronto said quickly. "I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. They told us to hand over the enchanted item. They told us to set this up with the students. Every bit of it ca from higher up."
He flinched, bracing for pain, but nothing ca.
Of course, Raze didn’t need to strike again. He believed him.
A guild like Underfang couldn’t have accessed a dark enchanted item on their own.
It made sense, it had to be Cerberus. This could be useful later. Alen had asked him: if he ever took down a Grand Magus, he needed to ensure the cris ca to light. And this? This was more than enough to spark outrage.
"With Bronto and Cerberus pulling moves like this," Raze thought, "the truth is going to burn through the veil eventually."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Answer this, then," Raze asked. "Why follow their orders at all? Don’t tell they threatened you. Because judging by how you acted back there, you were enjoying every minute of it."
Bronto clicked his tongue and looked away.
"The Underfang Guild was renad by the Cerberus Guild," he said at last. "And I’m sure you know already, Cerberus works closely with the police and other governing bodies. Their network isn’t small. They’ve got connections across multiple countries. We’re not just so little pawn, we’re part of sothing much bigger."
"They’ve got the power," Bronto muttered, "the kind of power that keeps guilty guilds from being sent to certain... dark places."
He wasn’t being entirely direct, but Raze understood the ssage loud and clear. The Underfang, renad or not, was without a doubt a Black Guild.
A guild hidden from the public eye—operating in shadows, thriving in the black market. They were the ones responsible for assassinations, rcenary contracts, the illegal trade of cursed items, and more. Hunted by the world governnt and pursued relentlessly by Grand Magus forces, the downfall of a Black Guild was sothing the public would cheer for.
That kind of guild wouldn’t bat an eye at carrying out Cerebus’ orders. In fact, they were the perfect fit. When the only options were death, lifelong imprisonnt, or complete obedience, it wasn’t surprising they chose survival.
"Of course," Bronto said with a grin, puffing out his chest slightly, "not just any Black Guild gets selected by Cerebus. We were chosen because of our talent—and because of my strength."
That smug smirk didn’t last long.
Smack!
A solid hand cracked across the back of Bronto’s head, hard enough that his knees gave out. He nearly collapsed to the ground, dazed, before Raze caught him by the collar of his blazer and yanked him back up.
"You people..." Raze said, disgust twisting his voice, "you make sick. Even now—even now—you’re gloating like so kind of twisted hero. Tell , do you actually know why the Cerebus Guild gave you this mission? Or are you just another blind, obedient dog?"
Bronto coughed, dazed from the blow, but managed to laugh. "You call us fools?" he said, voice hoarse but taunting. "You’re just so clueless student pretending to understand how the world really works. So what—you’ve got a little power, and now you think you can take on soone like the Cerebus Guild?"
His words dripped with mockery.
"You really don’t get it, do you?"
Raze didn’t blink.
"I don’t know how the world works?" he repeated softly. "If I couldn’t take down sothing like the Cerebus Guild..." He paused, his tone sharpening into sothing colder. "Then I might as well abandon my goal right now."
He took a step forward.
"Because my target... is a lot higher than them."
Bronto blinked, stunned into silence for the first ti. Raze didn’t elaborate. He didn’t need to.
Without looking back, Raze began walking, letting the silence spell fade. With a flick of his wrist, a gust of wind swept out from behind him, pushing Bronto forward like a discarded puppet.
Bronto stumbled, caught himself, and kept walking—but for the first ti, he wasn’t smirking. He wasn’t laughing or mocking. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Raze’s back.
’Who... is this kid?’ Bronto thought, heart still pounding.
’Who can overpower a Six-Star Mage like ... and say those words with such certainty? And how does he know so much?’
The wind that had pushed him forward was still swirling faintly in the air, like the calm after a storm. But Bronto couldn’t shake the feeling that Raze wasn’t just another talented student.
He was sothing else entirely.
****
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